The Strangest Pair
by DuckieBubbles
Summary: A collection of fluffy, happy Caveline oneshots set around Caroline's first few months in the company. Whilst it won't form a complete story like my other stories do, they all will tie in with each other in some way.
1. Caroline's First Week

Caroline's first week of the job had been eventful to say the very least. She was so afraid of doing something wrong that she just couldn't seem to get anything right. She was wobbling around in her favourite crimson heels, desperately trying not to drop the coffee she was delivering to her new boss' office.

She knocked and entered as she usually did, and was met by Cave Johnson's award winning smile.

"Y-your coffee sir..." Caroline stuttered, placing the cup down on his desk, coffee spilling over the side due to her shaking hand.

"Ah, thank you, Caroline!" Cave grinned. "Hey, would you mind taking these papers down to finance?" He asked, gesturing to a pile of papers that lay messily on his desk.

"Yes sir, Mr. Johnson!" She replied, immediately running to pick up the stack. "Anything else?" She asked.

"No thanks, that'll be all." Caroline nodded and began heading to the door. "Keep up the good-" Cave's additional sentence was cut short by a shriek, closely followed by a shower of paper and a thud.

"I'm sorry..." Caroline whispered as she got on her knees and began picking up the now scattered paper. Her hand brushed across something warm, causing her to look up curiously to see what is was. Through her teary eyes she saw her boss also on his knees helping to pick up the papers, his hand being the thing hers had touched.

"Don't worry about it," Cave began, placing his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "You're still the best damn assistant I've ever had."

"Thank you, sir." Caroline smiled shyly.

"Just keep being you and we should all be fine." Cave grinned as the two picked up the last of the paper, making sure that Caroline had it all before helping her to her feet.

"Now remember, keep your chin up and don't worry so much." He winked at her, flushing her cheeks a delicate pink.

"Yes sir!" She called enthusiastically before leaving. Cave was still smiling even after she'd gone, eagerly waiting for the next time he'd see his lovely assistant that day.


	2. Cave's Nephew

"Caroline, you're daydreaming about him again, aren't you?" Caroline's trance-like daydream was broken by her friend Mary.

"Maybe..." Caroline teased, wrapping her hair around her finger.

"I thought you saw him enough at work!" Mary called out jokingly.

"I never see him much outside of giving him his coffees, he's always busy doing CEO stuff, and I'm always busy running errands." Caroline sighed.

"I never thought anyone would be so sad about never seeing their boss. " Mary remarked. "Anyway, you could have gone on a 'business trip' with him today, I wouldn't have been offended."

Caroline flushed a pale pink. "He's babysitting his nephew today, plus, I barely know him! I've only been working there for a month!" Mary opened her mouth to reply to her friend, but was distracted by a small child racing around the corner and latching himself to Caroline's leg. She managed to remove him and knelt down to face him.

"Hello, what's your name?" She asked the boy sweetly.

"My name's Tommy!" The child introduced himself.

"Ok, Tommy, who are you meant to be with?" Caroline asked in the same sweet voice.

"My uncle, but he's no fun." Tommy pouted, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well you still shouldn't run off like that, I'm sure your uncle is worried sick!" Caroline told the child firmly. She was about to suggest that they go looking for his uncle when she heard a male voice shouting Tommy's name.

"Tommy!" A man raced around the corner. "For goodness sake, Tommy!" The man jogged towards the two ladies and his nephew puffing and panting. Caroline froze.

"Mr. Johnson!" Caroline recognised the man as he got closer.

"Caroline!" Cave Johnson recognised his assistant in turn.

"Oh so YOU'RE Cave Johnson? Wow, Caroline was not exaggerating! You really are-" Mary was cut short as Caroline elbowed her in the stomach.

"Hey, Mary, didn't you need some apples?" Caroline asked through her teeth.

"But they're over at the other end of the-"

"You needed apples, didn't you?" Caroline gave Mary a death glare.

"Yes, I did, I'm going to go get those." Mary took the hint and hurried off.

"I'm sorry about her, she's a little bit..." Caroline trailed off.

"Don't worry about it kiddo." Cave grinned at his assistant. Caroline felt a tug on her dress and looked down to see Tommy staring adoringly at her.

"You're right, uncle, she IS like a princess! I've never SEEN a prettier girl!" Tommy gave a huge smile at Cave and Caroline, both of whom were bright red.

"Right, thanks for that input, Tommy, but I'm afraid it's time to go." Cave hurriedly told the child.

"But you said we could-"

"It's time to go." Cave told Tommy firmly.

"You're no fun!" Tommy shouted as he bolted in the opposite direction.

"Hey Caroline, I know it's a Saturday, but I could really use your help catching that kid." Cave explained. Caroline nodded in agreement with a slight laugh before the two began sprinting after the child together.


	3. The Pillow Fight

Caroline walked into Aperture with her head held high; unlike the others, she didn't mind Mondays. Even though everyone was already there and the air was full of casual chatter, the tapping of her heels on the catwalk echoed throughout the cavernous facility as she headed to the office that Cave and her shared. She knocked and entered as she always did.

"Good morning Mr. Jo-" Caroline trailed off as she saw that room was empty. She headed over to her desk where there was a note.

'Meet me in the cafeteria. -Cave.' Confused, Caroline placed her bag at her desk and headed down to where the note had said to go. She carefully opened the door and stood in awe of the room she'd just walked into. The chairs and tables had been stacked at one side of the room, which was full of pillows of varying colours and sizes with two forts at opposite sides of the room. Cave was stood by a microphone, and as Caroline walked in, he begun an announcement.

"Hello, Cave Johnson here, I'd like all of you to report to the cafeteria as soon as you have the chance. Thank you." He looked at Caroline with a grin.

"Sir, what's going on?" Caroline asked. In response, Cave picked up a pillow that was by his feet and launched it at her. He missed by a long shot, but Caroline got the general idea.

"Tommy said I was no fun, but look at this! If Tommy wasn't at that goddamn school, he'd be saying that I'm the most fun man in the world!" Cave shouted. Caroline took took her heels off and propped them in the corner out of the way as more and more people began filing into the massive room.

"Okay, everybody," Cave began, the room falling silent as he spoke, "Let's fight." An initial confusion washed over the room, but after a few pillows were thrown, most people caught on and soon enough, the air was filled with laughter and flying pillows.

Cave threw one at Caroline, this time hitting her square in the face pretty hard.

"I'm sorry, Caroline, I didn't mean to throw it that hard!" Cave laughed. Caroline picked the pillow up and threw it back at Cave, just as hard.

"It's on." She grinned. The two were launching pillows at full force at each other with such concentration that they didn't even notice that everyone had stopped their own fights to watch the two most important people in Aperture launching pillows at each other with a vengence. Some were rooting for Cave, others for Caroline, but each and every one of them kept cheering until the CEO and his assistant were lay on the floor in a giggling heap.

Three days later, the cafeteria pillow fight was but a memory. Caroline was sat doing paperwork and Cave was reading through it all. Caroline was just about to put the piece of paper she'd finished into the 'completed' tray when she felt something soft hit her face. She looked up and saw Cave grinning at her. He'd kept a few pillows under his desk 'just in case'. Little did he know that Caroline had done the exact same thing. Cave turned back to his desk with a proud look on his face, when Caroline grabbed a pillow and launched it back at him.

"Round two?" Cave asked with a grin.

"Round two." She confirmed, returning the smile. The two continued their small scale pillow fight until Caroline tripped and landed on top of Cave, who was knocked backwards. The two just stared at each other for a few moments, Caroline still sat on top of Cave. After a minute or so, they both snapped out of their daze and stood up, cleaning the pillows up before returning to work as if it never happened.

"I'll get you in round three." Cave smirked at his assistant, who went furiously red.


	4. Not Too Great With Kids

Caroline was sat at home watching the television one evening when her phone rang.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Hey, Caroline you're good with kids, aren't you?" The voice that Caroline correctly identified as Cave's hurriedly asked.

"I... guess?" Caroline was unsure how to answer.

"Good because I really need you to-" Cave was cut short by a loud bang from his end, "Tommy! Get down from there!" He shouted in the opposite direction of the phone, his sudden outburst taking Caroline by surprise.

"Mr. Johnson? Is everything alright?" Caroline asked.

"Yes, well, kind of. Listen, I live at the very end house on Wheat Field Lane, number twenty seven, you can't miss it. I'd, uh, really appreciate it if you could come over." Cave asked his assistant, slightly embarrassed at the fact that he'd had to ask for help. Caroline smiled a smile her boss didn't see.

"Yes sir, Mr. Johnson! I'll be right over!" She replied enthusiastically before putting the phone down and her shoes on.

Caroline was strolling down Wheat Field Lane, admiring the large houses that were far classier than her small cottage. She got to the very end of the street as Cave had instructed, and saw number twenty seven, which was by far the largest and classiest house out of them all. Heart beating rapidly with excitement, she knocked on the door. Within seconds, the door opened, revealing an obviously worn out Cave.

"Oh thank heavens you're here!" Cave sighed with relief upon seeing his assistant stood at the door.

"Who is it?" Came an excited voice from behind Cave that could only belong to a hyperactive child. Tommy forced his way in front of Cave and looked up at Caroline.

"Oh, it's the princess from the other day!" Tommy exclaimed, causing both of the adults present to turn a bright shade of red.

"It's Caroline." Cave corrected the child, who beamed and embraced the lower half of his uncle's assistant in a tight hug. "Why don't you come in?" Cave adressed Caroline. She prised the child off of her and entered the home, Cave closing the door behind her and showing her into the front room. The two sat down on the sofa.

"What did you need me to come round for?" Caroline asked her boss politely, but the sound of Tommy racing around the house shouting Caroline's name at the top of his voice answered her question.

"At least he's taking a break from swinging from my curtains." Cave muttered. Sensing Cave's obvious annoyance, Caroline stood up.

"Tommy, could you come here please?" Caroline called in a sweet yet firm voice. The shouting stopped and Tommy appeared in front of her.

"What is it?" The little boy asked.

"Your uncle says that you've not been on your best behaviour. Is this true?" Caroline asked firmly.

"No!" Tommy cried in protest. Caroline folded her arms and looked at the child with a look that told him that she knew he was lying.

"Yes..." He looked at the ground upon being found out.

"Don't worry, Tommy, I'm not angry and neither is your uncle, but we'd both appreciate it if you'd calm down a little." Caroline told the little boy in a sweet voice, placing her hand on his shoulder. Tommy nodded in agreement.

"Sorry Cave. Sorry Caroline." Tommy told the two adults.

"It's okay." Caroline smiled at Tommy. "It's getting late, though, maybe it's time for you to go to bed." Tommy shook his head.

"I'm not tired!" He protested, finishing the sentence with a large yawn.

"Goodnight, Tommy." Caroline's voice suggested that it was more of an instruction than anything else. Giving in, Tommy shuffled up the stairs and went to bed, leaving the adults to collapse back on the sofa.

"Thanks, Caroline, I owe you one." Cave told his assistant.

"No problem, sir." Caroline smiled at her boss. There was a brief silence for a moment.

"Say, Caroline, you're good with kids, have you ever thought about getting any of your own?" Cave asked, slightly nervous.

"I can't say I have." Caroline replied, curious as to why her boss wanted to know.

"Well I hope you don't." Cave began, "I mean... it's your own choice if you do, but most women stop working after they get married and have kids..." He trailed off.

"Not me sir, I'm fully devoted to science." Caroline stated proudly.

"That's good to hear. But with you being you, you probably have a nice guy and I'm sure you'll be thinking about taking the 'next step' soon enough." Cave shrugged.

"Actually, sir, I'm single..." Caroline told her boss sheepishly.

"Really?" Cave asked, surprised, though Caroline didn't notice the way his smile grew ever so slightly upon the news.

"But I bet you're married to a lovely woman, sir." Caroline smiled.

"Actually, divorced." Cave grinned nervously.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I had no idea." Caroline whispered.

"It's fine, kiddo. We were only married for like half a year. She was a science hating golddigger. Glad to be rid of her." Cave smirked.

"As long as you're happy." Caroline smiled.

"Couldn't be happier." Cave grinned at his assistant, who's cheeks became tinged with red. The two were silent for a few seconds.

"Well since everything's fine here now, I guess I should get going." Caroline stood up and headed for the door, Cave not far behind.

"I guess. Have a lovely evening, I'll see you on Monday." Cave waved at his assistant.

"Give me a ring if you have any more problems." Caroline smiled and waved back as she headed down the driveway and back to the main street. Cave closed the door and went bright red.

"You love her, don't you?" Came a mocking voice from the top of the stairs.

"Tommy! Get back to bed right now!" Cave shouted. Laughing like a madman, Tommy did so.


	5. Caroline's Parents

Cave and Caroline were sat in silence, concentrating on the heavy workload that was placed before each of them, the only sound being the constant, rhythmic tapping of Caroline's pen against the desk.

"Hey, Caroline?" Cave broke the silence, causing the tapping to suddenly halt. "You seem a little on edge today, is everything all right?"

"Not really, sir." Caroline sighed.

"What's up?" Cave wheeled his chair over to sit next to his assistant.

"See, I'm visiting my parents this weekend, and every single time I see them, they give me a whole speech on how I should have a boyfriend and all of that nonsense." Caroline rolled her eyed.

"Ah, that's a pain, what are you gonna do?" Cave asked, sympathising with his assistant.

"Probably just grit my teeth and endure it again." Caroline rested her head on her hands, not noticing Cave's slight mischevious smirk.

"Hey, here's an idea, why don't I pretend to be your boyfriend?" Cave grinned.

"Are you sure sir?" Caroline stared at her boss with disbelief.

"Anything for my loyal assistant." Cave gave Caroline the thumbs up.

"Thank you, sir!" Caroline smiled in relief.

The weekend came and the two met up at the train station. They unsurprisingly spent their entire train journey chatting about science. Eventually, the two came to their stop and began heading towards Caroline's parents' house.

"Thanks again for doing this, Mr. Johnson." Caroline smiled at her boss.

"Er, you might want to just call me Cave, 'Mr. Johnson' seems a little too formal, considering the circumstances."

"Yes, sir." Caroline nodded.

"And there's no need for that type of formality either. We may be scientists, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't put on a convincing show." Cave grinned.

"Okay, Cave." Caroline replied nervously.

"Better." Cave nodded at his assistant. The two arrived at Caroline's parents' house and knocked on the door. After a few moments, Caroline's mother came to the door.

"Ah! Caroline! Great to see you!" She greeted her daughter with a hug.

"Great to see you too, mom!" Caroline hugged her mother back.

"Wait, Caroline, is this man your boyfriend?" Caroline's mother asked excitedly.

"Yes, my name is Cave Johnson, pleasure to meet you." Cave greeted politely.

"Lovely to meet you, Cave, my name is Josephine." She offered her hand out for Cave to shake, who quickly did so.

"Why don't you both come in?" Josephine gestured for them both to enter and closed the door behind them before leading them both into the front room where Caroline's father was sat.

"Caroline, care to introduce us to your... Friend?" Caroline's father asked from his armchair.

"Ah, yes, this is Cave Johnson, my boyfriend." Caroline said the last word rather nervously.

"Lawrence Raines." The moustached man took Cave's hand and shook it. The pair sat down. "Glad to see that Caroline has finally found a man. We were starting to get worried, weren't we, Josie?" He looked up at his wife, who nodded.

"Yes, we're always telling her that she isn't getting any younger, but now she can finally think about settling down." Josephine smiled.

"Mom!" Caroline flushed bright red, causing her parents to laugh.

"Why don't we show the two of you where you'll be sleeping? I'm assuming you'll want to share a room, after all." The older lady smiled perkily.

"Okay." Caroline replied. Cave stood up and held his hand out to his assistant, helping her to her feet. The two followed Caroline's mother into the spare room, where Josephine winked at her daughter and left, leaving the two to fall back onto the bed, exhausted.

"Your parents are lovely, but I can see what you meant about the boyfriend thing." Cave told his assistant, who nodded.

"Yeah, and thanks again for doing this, I really owe you one." Caroline laughed sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, like I said, anything for my prized assistant." Cave winked. The two got ready for bed and chatted until they finally fell asleep.

The rest of the weekend passed without much fuss. That was until the last day, when Cave and Caroline were sat on the sofa chatting.

"Say, Caroline," Josephine suddenly began, "I just thought, I've not seen you two kiss this weekend." Caroline froze.

"That's uh..." Caroline stuttered.

"Oh, Caroline, please don't say this is just one of your friends." Josephine sighed with disappointment. Caroline bit her lip nervously. She was about to reply until Cave interrupted.

"Don't worry, Mrs Raines, your daughter and I are very much in love." Cave cut in.

"Oh really?" Josephine folded her arms sceptically.

"Absolutely." Cave leant in to his assistant and kissed her right on the lips. Caroline wasn't expecting it at all, but she could say with certainty that she did not want that moment to end.


	6. Sleepover at Aperture

"Yes, I can't wait." Caroline smiled warmly at somebody outside Cave's office before entering with her boss' coffee.

"Who were you talking to?" Cave asked his assistant curiously.

"Janet from accounting." Caroline smiled as she placed the coffee down on Cave's desk.

"Isn't she throwing that sleepover here tonight?" Cave asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yes, she invited me to it and I can't wait." Caroline beamed. Cave nearly choked on his coffee.

"She invited you? I never got an invite!" Cave exclaimed.

"That's because she wants it to be a more, well, _girly_ sleepover. You know, the science girls meeting other science girls from different departments." Caroline blushed slightly. Cave puffed his cheeks.

"Fine then. Fine. I'll hold my own sleepover. No girls allowed." Cave crossed his arms like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Sir-" Caroline began but was interrupted as Cave stood up and headed for the intercom.

"Cave Johnson here. In light of the girls' sleepover in the accounting department tonight, I propose a sleepover for only the guys in the finance department. This will also take place tonight. Thank you." Cave announced, stepping away from the intercom once he had finished.

"But sir, that's right next to accounting." Caroline reminded her boss who looked at her with a smirk.

"I know."

Later on that night, the girls had cleared the everything to the side of the room and were all sat around wrapped in their duvets, their once formal outfits replaced with pyjamas and their once done-up hair now loose around their shoulders.

"So Caroline," Linda from research asked with a sly grin, "What's Cave Johnson like in person?" All of the girls leant in close, eager to hear the answer.

"Well... He's definitely something," Caroline began, "He honestly behaves live a child sometimes." The girls all laughed.

"Yes but-" Karla from research was interrupted by a loud bang from just outside as Cave Johnson, plus three other scientists, fell through the open door.

"What do you mean I behave like a child?" Cave shouted, leaping to his feet.

"Exactly this!" Caroline called back, lifting a pillow. "Come on girls, let's show Mr. Johnson what happens to eavesdroppers." Caroline smirked. Unsure at first, but encouraged by Caroline's fiery enthusiasm, each female employee in the room charged, pillow in hand, at Cave and the three other scientists. They chased them out of the room and back down the hallway, for all of which Cave was yelling to the other guys to abort the mission. After the chase, the girls retreated back to their room and flopped back onto their pillows, laughing.

"I see what you mean," Janet agreed between giggles.

"We need a way to keep them out." Karla commented, receiving a nod and a murmur of agreement from the others. They all thought for a second until Mary from engineering spoke.

"Well we could use a turret gun, I suppose, but I think bullets might be taking it too far." She commented, still deep in thought.

"Can you not remove the bullets?" Linda asked. Mary shook her head.

"No, we put them together, but you need a special key code to actually access the ammunition." Mary replied.

"Do you mean the one Mr. Johnson asked me to set for him?" Caroline asked, a wild grin spreading across her face.

"That... That would be the one." Mary replied in disbelief.

"Great. You get a turret gun and bring it back here. I'll deal with the rest." Caroline instructed Mary who ran off to do just that.

"But what are we going to replace the ammunition with?" Karla asked, "We could leave it empty, but that just feels like a missed opportunity..." The girls searched their general vicinity, attempting to find something to fill the turret with.

"How's this?" Janet lifted a couple of large, unopened bags of miniature marshmallows, bullet sized.

"Perfect." Caroline grinned. Mary came running into the room, a deactivated turret under her arm. She disassembled the turret before passing the locked ammunition box to Caroline, who punched in the code, allowing the box to open and bullets to fall out everywhere. The girls tore open the marshmallows and poured them into the turret until it could hold no more, then Mary swiftly reassembled it, good as new. The girls all tiptoed out into the hall. Linda and Janet made sure that the guys weren't hiding as Mary and Caroline set up the marshmallow turret, the other girls silently cheering from the door. Upon it's activation, they all ran back into the room and sat by the window, awaiting their unsuspecting targets.

Soon enough, the girls heard excited whispering approaching and tried not to laugh.

"Hang on," A voice sounded from outside, bringing the male footsteps to a halt. No sooner had he said that did the sweet voice of the turret announce it's new target.

"They've got a gun!" James from engineering, shouted, recognising the seemingly innocent voice anywhere. The girls couldn't hold in their laughter much longer at the sound of chaos from outside, due to the fact that the guys were launching themselves in all different directions to avoid being hit by what they thought was gunfire. Cave used the chaos to get close to the turret, which he promptly deactivated. The guys all relaxed, and the hallway was filled with sounds of exhausted, heavy breathing.

"Wait, are these..?" Richard from the testing labs asked, picking up a handful of 'bullets' that had been shot his way.

"Marshmallows?" Cave finished, noticing a few scattered his way as well. As the guys were looking around in confusion, the door to the girls' room swung open, their laughter ringing around the hallway as tears streamed down their faces.

"You... You should have seen your faces!" Caroline squealed between laughs.

"It was priceless!" Janet laughed, doubling over. Cave picked up the turret, and upon aiming it at the giggling pile of girls, reactivated it, chasing them back into their room. Caroline picked up a pillow and began fending off the marshmallows, the other girls soon following her example. Even after all of the marshmallows had run out, people were smacking each other with pillows, launching themselves at each other and even scooping up discarded marshmallows to launch at their opponent, all work ranks lost as managers fought secretaries, newer employees fought older ones and people who worked closely together as friends fought each other. Not even Cave and Caroline, the two highest ranking people in Aperture were receiving, or sparing, any mercy in the all-out war between the guys and the girls.

Eventually, everybody was lay collapsed on the mound of pillows and duvets, exhausted from their busy day, some still holding their weapon of choice loosely in their hand. The sleepover that had started as two seperate groups had ended up as one big party, and Caroline would forever hold her boss to the last words he spoke that night:

"Let's all do this again some time."


	7. What a Surprise

To say Caroline was exhausted would be an understatement.

For the past week or so, Cave had been working her to her bone. She didn't mind too much, of course, she loved her job and was glad to be some sort of help. However, since Cave had been sending her all over everywhere, she'd not had much time to tackle the increasing stack of paperwork that had almost reached the size of Cave's 'I'll do it later' pile, which meant she was staying up much later in order to keep reasonably on top of it.

Caroline's 6am alarm rung from the coffee table in her front room. She had recently taken to accidentally falling asleep on her sofa in a pile of half-finished and untouched documents, so she thought it best to move her alarm clock with her as she did not want to risk being late for work. She got ready and picked up the small stack of finished paperwork and headed out, grabbing a coffee along the way.

"Good morning, Mr. Johnson," she greeted her boss as she walked into their office, placing the stack of completed paperwork into the appropriate tray.

"Morning, Caroline! How's my lovely assistant today?" Cave replied in his usual upbeat manner as he stood up and approached Caroline.

"A little tired, but still ready to do some science, sir!" Caroline said with enthusiasm.

"Atta girl!" Cave roared, patting her on the back.

"I'll go get your morning coffee, sir!" Caroline said as she went to leave the room.

"Hang on," Cave interrupted. "Before you do that, could you head down to the engineering department and hand them this? It's just a bit of paperwork they wanted me to handle," Cave handed her an envelope.

"Yes, sir!" Caroline took the envelope and hurried out of the room towards the engineering department.

On the way, Caroline noticed that the hallways were quieter than usual. At that time, the people who got there earlier were usually already hurrying around going about their daily business as the people who got there later were beginning to pour in, however Caroline only saw a handful of people as she hurried down to the engineering department.

"Good morning!" She said cheerfully as she entered the main engineering office, once again noting that it was much quieter than usual.

"Ah, Caroline! Nice to see you! What brings you here?" The head of engineering asked as he swivelled round on his chair.

"Mr. Johnson asked me to give you this," Caroline explained as she handed him the envelope.

"Ah, thank you, Caroline!" He said with a friendly smile.

He opened it and read the document inside, then he checked the time before scribbling something down on a scrap piece of paper.

"Sorry to ask this of you, especially first thing, but if you're passing, would you be able to pass this note over to Steve in testing track nine? There's a part of this document that he might want to know about, something about regulations, you know," He asked.

"Sure," Caroline replied, taking the note from the head engineer. She wasn't passing, but she didn't like saying no to a friend's request.

Testing track nine was tucked away in a far off corridor, so it took Caroline a good few minutes to get there despite knowing the entire facility like the back of her hand.

"Thanks a bunch, Caroline," Steve said as Caroline handed him the note. He read it and tucked it behind a book on his desk. "Just stuff about safety, you know?"

"Not a problem!" Caroline said cheerfully as she turned and left.

Caroline headed back to her and Cave's office, but upon reaching it, she discovered that the door was locked.

"Mr. Johnson?" Caroline called through the wooden door.

"Ah, Caroline!" Came the slightly panicked reply from inside.

"Is everything okay?" Caroline asked.

"Yes! Everything's just fine, don't you worry!" Cave said, his voice implying the opposite.

"Is there anything I can do, sir?" Caroline asked.

"Yes! Could you, uh, get me a coffee, please?" Cave replied.

"Yes, sir," Caroline said, confused.

Caroline headed down to the kitchen and saw a friend of hers from a different department.

"Oh hi Janet, I didn't expect to see you here," Caroline said with a smile as she began to make Cave's coffee.

"Hey Caroline, How's it going?" Janet asked.

"Pretty good, Mr. Johnson has had me running around here there and everywhere this week, but it'll take more than a bit of hard work to keep me down!" Caroline laughed.

"True that, all the men keep talking about how tough they are, but you're by far the most resilient person in the whole company," Janet agreed with a laugh.

"You really think?" Caroline replied with a grin.

"Absolutely! After all, not just anyone could handle- NO!" Janet abruptly interrupted herself, throwing herself in front of the refrigerator as Caroline tried to open it.

"Janet?" Caroline asked, clearly confused, "I just need the milk."

"Oh, okay!" Janet laughed nervously, "Let me get that for you!" Janet opened the fridge just wide enough for her to fit her hand in and felt around for the bottle of milk, pulling it out and handing it to Caroline.

"Thank you?" Caroline said suspiciously as she poured the milk she needed into Cave's coffee. The instant she was finished with it, Janet picked it up and slotted it back into the fridge, once again only just opening it wide enough.

Caroline hurried off to give Cave his coffee as Janet stood leaning against the fridge.

"Here you go, Mr. Johnson!" Caroline said in her usual perky voice as she pushed the door open. "Mr Johnson?"

Caroline looked around the office in surprise as she noticed that Cave was nowhere to be seen. She gently placed his coffee on his desk before heading over to her own. As she pulled her chair out, she noticed a little note on her desk, hastily written in Cave's less than neat handwriting:

'Come down to Meeting Room 4, you don't need to bring anything but your pretty little self.'

Caroline stared at the note with confusion. With a shrug, she decided to do as the note said and headed down to the room, resisting all urges to bring a folder full of various work.

Once she got to the Meeting Room, she noticed that the door was closed and the lights were off. She double checked the note and confirmed that she'd definitely arrived at the correct room. She pushed the door open and reached for the light switch.

"Hello? Mr. Johnson? Are you-"

"Surprise!" Many people jumped out from under and behind the furniture as light flickered into the room. Balloons and streamers decorated the room along with a large banner that appeared to be freshly painted across the back wall reading "Happy Birthday Caroline".

Caroline threw her hands over her mouth as she gasped in surprise.

"Happy birthday Caroline, my number one assistant," Cave pushed though the dispersing crowd of people as chatter began to fill the air and patted her back affectionately.

"Mr Johnson! Was this your idea?" She asked.

"Sure was! You're a popular gal you know, everyone was dying to help with this," Cave said, clearly quite impressed.

"Everyone helped with..." Caroline looked around the room with a huge smile, everyone raising their cups with a cheer when she looked their way.

"Anyway, I'd like to apologise to you for working you so hard this week. It was all I could do to keep you from walking in on me planning this," Cave apologised with a nervous laugh. Caroline shook her head.

"Not at all! I'm flattered that you'd do something like this for me," she said with the biggest smile, which he returned.

Caroline looked around the room. There was a table in the middle set up with all kinds of snacks and drinks with a huge cake right in the middle.

Stood next to the table was Steve and the head of engineering, who both smiled apologetically at her. Steve held up the note from earlier for Caroline to read:

_Keep Caroline busy so we can start setting up_

_-C. Johnson_

_Steve-_

_She's quick, HELP!_

Caroline laughed at the note, truly touched that everyone did in fact play a part in planning the celebration.

There was a crackle as the phonograph spurred to life, filling the room with an upbeat song. Caroline felt a tap on her shoulder as Cave appeared behind her.

"What do you say to a dance?" he asked.

"I'd love to," Caroline replied as she took his hand.


End file.
